It’s the mad in Madrid

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There is a painting by Francisco Masriera y Manovens entitled The Belles of the Ball. Painted in 1898, it depicts two sisters posing after a party. The younger, dressed in white, leans forward from a scarlet background, a coquettish look on her face as she urges the artist to hurry up — she has places to go and people to see. Her older sibling stands behind, aloof and uncomfortable, knowing that our eyes are for her sister alone. Once upon a time, she could have been Madrid, and her fun-loving little sister Barcelona — but not any more.